There isn't anything worse than checking a website and clicking their Facebook link to find that they've redirected you to a personal page. Not only do you have to hope they accept you as a "friend," you're taken through one more step to see their content and find their real Fan Page. I hate this! Here are the top 15 reasons to have a Fan Page, and not a personal page, attached to your business.

15 Benefits Of Having A Fan Page On Facebook Book

1. Unlimited Friend Count

While the amount of friends you have on your personal profile page is limited and capped at 5,000, your Fan Page can have an infinite number of fans. This is probably one of the most important reasons that you should be using a Fan Page and not your personal page. Why would you ever want to limit the amount of fans your brand can have?

2. You Have The Option To Keep Your Personal Life Private(-ish)

In creating a Fan Page you are, essentially, keeping your personal page separate and not connected to it. For those who want to keep Facebook for friends and family, this is an important feature. It's vital. You can control the privacy settings on your personal page and optimize publicity for your Fan Page. It can become incredibly annoying to your friends and family who are constantly seeing business updates from you. This option is a great way around it.

3. Search Engine Results

Facebook Fan Pages are indexed, which means that some of the public content is indexed as well. As a business, you want to show up on the search engines. Of course, you want to direct traffic to your website first, but having a social presence is very important.

4. Tagging Your Brand

Your fans and other Fan Pages can tag your Fan Page. Only your friends can tag your personal page. As you want to show up on as many newsfeeds as possible, you definitely want the option to be Tagged in photos and posts by others. This increases your engagement, not to mention your fan base.

5. Facebook Insights

Facebook Fan Pages have great analytics. You can tack the amount of views a post receives and monitor your weekly reach all within the Facebook Insights. To be a smart marketer means knowing how to maximize each post and learning which posts work best for your brand. This is the insight you need to deliver the right content to your fans.

6. Facebook Tabs

Facebook tabs are only allowed on Fan Pages. Enough said?

7. Facebook Contests

Facebook contests are often seen in tabs. You can't host a successful contest on your personal page because the software and third party apps are just not there. Contests build engagement and engagement is your friend.

8. Profiles Look Like You Don't Know What's Going On

Plain and simple. A brand that directs to a personal page just looks amateur. You only get one first impression. You don't want it to be this one.

9. Advertising

Facebook advertising, while expensive, is very targeted. Advertising to a Fan Page is more effective than an outside landing page because Facebook wants to keep the traffic within the network. You can promote your Fan Page through ads, but not your personal page.

10. Admin Connections

By granting select people access to your Fan Page, you avoid giving out your password to multiple people. You can chose what rights they get to finagle with and what they can do within your Fan Page. This also allows for a pretty nice checks and balances system for your brand.

11. Check-Ins & Location Services

You can allow people to check into your brand through your Facebook Fan Page. You can't do anything like this on your personal page. If you have a location for your business, this is crucial for social proofing and newsfeed marketing. You always want to get people to interact with your brand. They can do so by checking in.

12. Promoted Posts

Okay, you can promote your posts now on your personal page, but they aren't as strong. Your personal page is often less targeted than your Fan Page. In being able to promote certain posts you are able to garner more exposure for whatever it is you're trying to push. You'll also have analytic access to this promoted post. If you promote posts like I do, you'll notice a definite leap in Likes.

13. Showcase The Other Pages You Like

Fan Pages give you the option to like pages and showcase them on your page. These should be brands that you have relationships with or brands that have a similar following. See tip #15 for more on this.

14. Newsfeed Marketing

Newsfeed marketing is the basis of social media marketing. By having a regularly updated Fan Page, you'll be seen and noticed on the newsfeeds of your fans. When they interact with your posts and brand, you'll show up on their friends' newsfeeds. This is your key to gaining new fans.

15. Comment As Your Brand

This is great branding. As long as you Like pages officially to your Fan Page, you can comment on their content and posts as well. In doing so, you're increasing exposure for your brand and providing valuable (read: priceless) insight and conversations with a new audience.

Do you use your personal page for business? What other benefits are there in using a fan page instead of a personal page?

Stephanie Frasco

Stephanie Frasco, VP Social Media Marketing, started helping businesses get results with social networks before Twitter even existed! Stephanie has worked directly with high profile clients like Oprah, Atlantic Records, Dashlane, The International Culinary Center, & many more. She specializes in helping business owners and marketers find massive ROI by developing targeted social campaigns focused on *engagement strategies* that work!

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Like the article so it would be nice if it was clear what a “fan” page is! I don’t think that term is used anymore.
Is it the pages you can create when you go to “Create a Page”. And if so, which of the 6 options do you suggest: “Brand or product”? “Local Business”?

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Very insightful! I’ve just recently converted to a fan page and I immediately appreciated the wall it set between my personal life and my blog. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of other advantages I’ve just discovered in your post. Good work.

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Hi Stephanie 🙂
I understand the importance of having a page and went ahead to set one up using my personal profile… but I have been held up wondering whether I should actual convert my personal profile into a page? I know it converts my friends into likes and followers instead of trying to redirect everyone to my new page to please follow that one. Is it bad to lose the personal page? Right now it is confusing trying to post on the page but all my friends still looking at the profile to read the posts etc. Will it be a mistake to convert my profile to a page or is that the better thing to do? I don’t want to post things just to have to start over again!
Thanks for your help! 🙂

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I think it is best to have a business page because if you plan on doing any advertising that’s where you’ll have to do it. Plus, in today’s Facebook world you need to combat decreasing reach with sharing via your personal page, so I think having both is the best idea.

Good luck. 🙂

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Oh yay, thanks Stephanie… I’m happy to hear I came to the right conclusion and chose both as well :). I’ve still been questioning one thing? And I’m sorry to bother you w/ it, but I’d love to clear it up… I started my page with my personal profile account, so you can click onto the business page link from my personal profile etc. I know this is good so I can invite my friends to like the page as well as promote it from my profile, but I’m getting likes on my profile instead of my page. I didn’t know if that’s normal and I should simply keep guiding to the new page and try to get likes on both when that happens…or should I use the new email I have for my website and open a new facebook account, my new page it’s only page? Would that affect the way I can post on my page and/or leave comments on my profile, as well as my friends? Would it simplify anything or is it the same? After searching I decided I think I did it right, but if you know anything different I’d love the advice! I don’t want to start posting all my content if it would be better to start over fresh with a separate account! 🙂 I hope that long question made sense…thank you for your time, it’s so kind of you!